Judea, Hasmonaean

We now turn to the Hasmonaean coins and examine them in light of their being possible candidates for the Widow’s Mite. Even though many of these coins would have existed about 100 years before the time of Jesus of Nazareth they are still solid candidates for being the Widow’s Mite. Coins are durable, in fact, many still exist today in fine shape. We know from the examination of coin hordes that the Hasmonaean circulated widely in the land of Judea. One coin horde was discovered in the bottom of a well – about 200,000 of the coins mostly minted by Alexander Jannaeus. It is not known why so many of these coins were there. Was it a hidden treasure and a safe place to hide them? Was there some type of custom like we have today of throwing coins in a well for luck or some other reason? We may never know.